Story By: Nonn Panitvong
Images By: h.m.rm
Images By: h.m.rm
Abstract
Suriya River (known in Myanmar as Hanthayaw) and Kasa River (Known in Myanmar as Ataran) originated in Thailand in the area of TungYai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary which is a UNESCO’s World Heritage site. The sanctuary located in the west of Thailand along the border with Myanmar. It is a part of the largest forest in mainland South East Asia. The Western Forest Complex–as it is known in Thailand- is the last home of many rare and endangered species such as the Asian Wild Buffalo(Bubalus bubalis).
The 2 rivers flowed from Thailand up north then cross the border into Myanmar, where it later joined with the Salween river just before it emptied into the Andaman sea. As a result, the fish fauna in these 2 rivers comprised mainly of the fish of Salween river besin. Others groups of fish are those found in Tenasserim river besin of Southern Myanmar and Thailand. It is also very interesting –although not unexpected given their proximity- to note that these 2 rivers also share some fish species from the Mae Klong river besin of western Thailand. However, there are some species of fishes that –so far- can only be found in Suriya and Kasa rivers such as Botia kubotai, Parambassis pulcinella, and Akysis vespa.
Although the part of these 2 rivers in Myanmar has –to a certain extend- been investigated and studied, the head water part in Thailand which located in deep forest remained un-studied until Nonn Panitvong and Chaiwut Krudpan visited the Kasa river in 2003 and 2004. The Suriya river was later visited by Nonn Panitvong in February 2006 and once again by Siamensis.org team in April 2006.
Of the 4 trips mentioned, we recorded 7 orders, 16 families and 51 species of fishes, of which one family and 6 species are new records for Thailand and most likely 9 species formerly un-known to science. Given that there are many species of fishes currently known only from these 2 rivers, we believe that further thorough investigation should yield more species formerly un-known to science world. (List of all the species can be found at the end of this article)
Our study has shown, once again, that Salween river besin, as a whole system, has very diverse fish fauna. So far, it is the only large river system in mainland South East Asia that has not been managed and/or regulated by human in large scale. We proposed that it should remain so until impact of our action to the home of these faunas and floras, to the livelihood of native people and economic value of the project are well studied, that all the mistakes we –Homo sapiens- have made in many water regulation projects have been put into account.
Siamensis.org team,
April 2006
Suriya River (known in Myanmar as Hanthayaw) and Kasa River (Known in Myanmar as Ataran) originated in Thailand in the area of TungYai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary which is a UNESCO’s World Heritage site. The sanctuary located in the west of Thailand along the border with Myanmar. It is a part of the largest forest in mainland South East Asia. The Western Forest Complex–as it is known in Thailand- is the last home of many rare and endangered species such as the Asian Wild Buffalo(Bubalus bubalis).
The 2 rivers flowed from Thailand up north then cross the border into Myanmar, where it later joined with the Salween river just before it emptied into the Andaman sea. As a result, the fish fauna in these 2 rivers comprised mainly of the fish of Salween river besin. Others groups of fish are those found in Tenasserim river besin of Southern Myanmar and Thailand. It is also very interesting –although not unexpected given their proximity- to note that these 2 rivers also share some fish species from the Mae Klong river besin of western Thailand. However, there are some species of fishes that –so far- can only be found in Suriya and Kasa rivers such as Botia kubotai, Parambassis pulcinella, and Akysis vespa.
Although the part of these 2 rivers in Myanmar has –to a certain extend- been investigated and studied, the head water part in Thailand which located in deep forest remained un-studied until Nonn Panitvong and Chaiwut Krudpan visited the Kasa river in 2003 and 2004. The Suriya river was later visited by Nonn Panitvong in February 2006 and once again by Siamensis.org team in April 2006.
Of the 4 trips mentioned, we recorded 7 orders, 16 families and 51 species of fishes, of which one family and 6 species are new records for Thailand and most likely 9 species formerly un-known to science. Given that there are many species of fishes currently known only from these 2 rivers, we believe that further thorough investigation should yield more species formerly un-known to science world. (List of all the species can be found at the end of this article)
Our study has shown, once again, that Salween river besin, as a whole system, has very diverse fish fauna. So far, it is the only large river system in mainland South East Asia that has not been managed and/or regulated by human in large scale. We proposed that it should remain so until impact of our action to the home of these faunas and floras, to the livelihood of native people and economic value of the project are well studied, that all the mistakes we –Homo sapiens- have made in many water regulation projects have been put into account.
Siamensis.org team,
April 2006
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